The idea of the rule of law is that no one should be above the law. One of the prime motivators for the EU is to protect individuals from the oppression of states, says Nosemonkey:

Being voted into office doesn’t mean you can do what you like any more than being king means you can do what you like. We’ve progressed beyond that stage.

Or, at least, I thought we had.

As Nosemokey says, the “Romagate” discussion is about our fundamental values. This is why we follow it on Bloggingportal.eu and elsewhere.

For those who read English, the BBC gives a general picture of EU commissioner Viviane Reding’s statement about Roma expulsions and responses from the French government, in French ministers fume… and the BBC’s Europe editor Gavin Hewitt’s blog post The Roma: France fights back.

On the Brussles Log of the Dutch Het Financieele Dagblad Hen Dirk writes about a grand nation: Een grote natie. After French reactions by the Minister for Europe Pierre Lellouche, EPP group leader Joseph Daul, internal market commissioner Michel Barnier, the EPP/UMP MEP Jean-Pierre Audy and family minister Nadine Murano, we have a debate about words instead a discussion about the expulsion of Roma.

Is president Nicolas Sarkozy (aided by Silvio Berlusconi) going to use today’s EU summit to try to intimidate the European Commission and the other member states, or is his government finally going to come to terms with European values and rules?